31 Flavors of Football: Cam Lawrence’s Subtle Swag

To help you and me get through the drudgery of August, I will present in this space a daily scoop of MSU football-ness, as inspired by a certain ice cream chain. August has 31 days, so I’ll let you work it out from there. Here is today’s flavor.

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You hear a lot of talk about swag these days. There are two types of swag: Obnoxious and subtle. Senior outside linebacker Cam Lawrence has that subtle swag.

He doesn’t come off as arrogant, but he is undoubtedly confident. He’s well-spoken, easy on the ladies’ eyes, and drives a big truck. He comes from a private school in Coldwater (Magnolia Heights) but doesn’t necessarily fit that private school stereotype. It’s more of a refined country boy vibe he has going on.

Let’s put it this way: Lawrence would probably be as comfortable in a tux as he would be in a pair of muddy boots, and wear them equally well. He’s comfortable in his own skin. As a football player, he’s more athletic than some of us might give him credit for. When he came to MSU, Lawrence worked at quarterback, receiver and defensive back before eventually bulking up and settling in at linebacker.

He’s turned into a pretty darned good linebacker, and perhaps a bit underrated. Lawrence was second in the SEC in tackles last year with 123 tackles, but I haven’t seen anybody put him on their preseason All-SEC first team. In fact, the media tabbed him a third-teamer, while the league’s coaches left Lawrence off their team altogether.

So he’s got some doubters to prove wrong. Knowing Lawrence, he’ll just continue to quietly go about his work and won’t worry about accolades. He’s got some young guys trying to take over the spot next to him at middle linebacker – Ferlando Bohanna and Benardrick McKinney – and Lawrence will expend a lot of energy guiding them along.

That’s what subtle swag does. It doesn’t focus on its bearer, but on trying to give others a little bit of that swag.